In the Loop – September 14, 2023

September 14, 2023

KEY RESOURCES IN LANGLEY

HONOURING TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

Indigenous Learning Opportunities 

The Outdoor Learning Store is offering a number of Indigenous Learning Opportunities for educators this fall:

  • 4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning – October 2023 to June 2024
    1. This is a ten-month, ten-part personal learning journey toward Truth and Reconciliation open to all educators that includes individual learning modules as well as an opportunity for participants to hear from an incredible group of Indigenous leaders, educators and elders.  See the link below for more details and to register:
    2. https://outdoorlearningstore.com/4-seasons/

DISTRICT PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
To see our full calendar of offerings, visit www.thinklangley.com

Balanced Literacy Guide Overview with Shelley Hegedus & Jiwan Malcolm | On-Demand Learning Feature
We’ll be looking at different ways students can transition from home to school and ease their way into a day of learning with intentional and engaging soft start activities. We’ll dig deeper into specific soft start activities that can be used right away. Please sit with colleagues that you can collaborate and share ideas with (grade groups would work well). There will be three slides with questions where you will be asked to take 5-10 minutes and have a conversation or share ideas with one another.

K/1 Patterns of Practice Numeracy (A New Session) | More info | Contact: kanderson@sd35.bc.ca
We are looking to connect our Kindergarten and Grade One teachers to chat about resources and classroom practice to support successful transitions for our students.  Our Kindergarten and Grade One teachers are an amazing group of educators with lots to share! Please join us for dinner and time to connect on Sept 26th from 3:30-5:30pm.  Dinner, door prizes and resources are all included in this FREE event! Please check out the poster at the More info link above to register.

myBlueprint: Making the Transition from All About Me to Spaces EDU | Sept 16 & Sept 26  | Register
With All About Me being decommissioned as of September 2023, K to grade 7 teachers are invited to come and learn about how to use the new myBlueprint platform: Spaces EDU. Participants will learn how to create individual spaces, document student learning, label artifacts with curriculum tags and how to easily meet the new Ministry reporting order in Core Competency Reflections and Goal Setting. Participants should bring a charged laptop. Both dates will have the same session content. Only sign up for one.

NEW! Connecting the Pieces: The Early Years Conference | Oct 20 | Register
Connecting the Pieces: The Early Years Conference is our annual conference dedicated to professional development for kindergarten, Grade 1 and 2 teachers and early childhood educators.
Our workshop line-up includes local and internationally recognized experts selected to share their innovative and practical ideas for working with young learners.

Introduction to Coast Metro Math Project Website | September 26 on Teams | More info
Please join Marc Garneau and Josh Angiola, Math and Numeracy Consultants from the Lower Mainland Math, for an introduction to the new, Coast Metro Math Project Website. Marc and Josh will provide an overview of this excellent, free numeracy framework for teachers and show how it can be used by teachers to support numeracy instruction in their classes. As well, Marc and Josh will provide an overview of the new resources and updates made to the site over the summer. The session will be held on Teams from 3:30 to 4:30pm – click on the link above to access the flyer for more information and to access the Teams link for the meeting.

EXTERNAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Crosscurrents Conference – Provincial Pro-D Day – Friday October 20 | More info
The October 20 Provincial Pro-D Day is a provincial pro-d day where individual Provincial Specialist Associations host their own, provincial conferences and events. The Teachers of Inclusive Education will be hosting their annual Crosscurrents Conference on that day. If you are interested and would like to learn more, please see the link above under more info.

2023 Leadership Superconference | Oct 20, 2023 | More info | Register
This conference is being held at the Langley Events Centre and is featuring guest speaker J.P. Nerbun who is a world-renowned leadership coach and sports consultant. Carleton University Women’s Basketball Head Coach Dani Sinclair will also be part of this incredible conference. Check out all the details at the link above.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STAFF/STUDENTS/CLASSES

Introducing Marine Month in Canada: a CMCF and Canadian Geographic Collaboration | More info
As the new school year begins, the Canadian Marine Careers Foundation is excited to share the launch of a new project: Marine Month in Canada 2023! Marine Month is a transformative learning initiative created in partnership with Canadian Geographic Education.
Throughout October, this month-long celebration will open doors for students to explore Canada’s thriving marine sector and discover a world of careers in navigation, engineering, technology, and more. Ideal for Grades 5-8, check out the website for more info on these live virtual presentations.

Opportunity for Students: youth writing mentorship | Grade 10-12 English teachers | More info
WordWorks magazine, is published by the Federation of BC Writers, and they are offering a mentorship for young writers this fall. We are a non-profit and this is a free opportunity for young writers in BC aged 15 to 20, with a focus on those from equity-deserving groups that face barriers to participation. Full details are available at bcwriters.ca/submit.

Fraser Institute High School Programs | Sept 16, 2023 | More info
The fall High School Economics Field Trips and Teacher Workshops and Webinars are fast approaching. These free webinar and in-person programs offer the tools needed to teach economics online, in-person, or hybrid classroom. Teacher workshop programs are developed and presented by economic experts, offering teachers the opportunity to participate in interactive sessions. Teachers also take home a wealth of resources, including detailed lesson plans, activity outlines, and readings.
The first fall webinar, Fundamentals of Environmental Economics, is this Saturday, September 16th! Reserve your spot today!

LEARNING RESOURCES

Indigenous Writers Now on KnowBC
All staff and students have unlimited access to the following eBooks through KnowBC (click here): Indian Horse, The Lesser Blessed, Take Us to Your Chief and Other Stories as well as other resources such as The Encyclopedia of British Columbia. Copies are also available through SORA, the district’s ebook and audiobook platform (click here).

What’s on your plate? | More info
Initiating classroom lessons centered around cultural differences, antiracism and mutual respect is no small task, but The Antiracist Kitchen is an approachable and poignant illustrated anthology that will engage students’ minds, hearts and stomachs. This is a Middle Grade 4-7 Illustrated Nonfiction book in the form of a cookbook.

Fraser Institute High School Programs | Economic Edukits | Request your Edukit
Our free Edukits are back by popular demand! We know that teachers spend countless hours outside the classroom and spend hundreds of their own money prepping for their classes. So we are here to help! Each Edukit comes with all materials needed for each activity, electronic access to our engaging lesson plan library, and a copy of Economic Principles of Prosperity book. The best part is these Edukits are FREE – no registration fee, no shipping cost and all the economic resources you need!

Free Veterans’ Week learning materials and other great remembrance resources | More info
The Veterans’ Week learning materials have been revised for 2023 and are now available for order. Get your free class packs of the Take Time to Remember activity booklet (ages 5-7), Tales of Animals in War newspaper (ages 5-11) or the Canada Remembers Times newspaper (ages 12-18). Our popular cards, bookmarks and posters are also back, along with our on-line Veterans’ Week teacher’s guide. These resources are available in both print and digital formats. Explore them today!

MENTORSHIP

We are looking for Mentors | Contact: gthornburn@sd35.bc.ca
Do you have more than 5 years teaching experience? Do you love to help others grow and learn? The Teacher Mentorship Program needs you!
The mentorship program is looking for mentors! A mentor is a teacher with more than 5 years of classroom experience who understands the needs and challenges of the early career teacher, a reflective practitioner who analyzes his own teaching, someone who is involved in ongoing personal and professional development, and a collaborative educator with strong interpersonal skills willing to provide professional guidance to a colleague.
We have a number of early career teachers looking for a mentor.  We need mentors at all grade levels and especially primary (K-5) and middle school (6-8).
Please contact Gwen Thornburn, District Teacher for Teacher Mentorship Programs, gthornburn@sd35.bc.ca.

How to Coach Emotions | More info
For a healthy school community, help people handle their feelings. Read more from Elena Aguilar about the importance of attending to the emotions of the adults in a school building, because without that there is no way to transform schools and give students what they deserve.

TECH TIPS

Proactive Approach to File Management
When working with students or organizing your own files in OneDrive, Teams or on your device, you will save a lot of time and frustration by using the file management strategy of ‘Folder First’ and ‘obvious names.’ For more information, check out the File Management section of the Staff Ed-Tek Help notebook, which includes a Folder First poster.

Signs You’re Talking to an AI Bot

  • Your Statements Are Always Turned Around. Bots tend to echo questions and statements. They repeat user input for clarity and context, minimizing the risk of AI hallucination.
  • Responses Come In Faster Than Humans Can Type Them
  • They’re Always Online and Ready to Respond
  • Replies Never Contain Typos
  • Conversations Keep Going in the Same Direction. They’ll keep directing you toward the same topics, regardless of what irrelevant request you input.
  • Every Response Comes with a Disclaimer. Despite the recent advancements in AI, chatbots still occasionally produce inaccuracies. ChatGPT as an example, starts with the phrase “As an AI model” when answering opinion-based questions.
  • You Get Irrelevant Responses to Your Questions. You’ll get vague, pointless responses if they can neither analyze nor answer your question. Any statements made might still be coherent and grammatically correct.
  • Repetitive and Redundant Sentence Construction. Bots form sentences based on templates. It typically fills in the blanks, so requests within the same category will trigger identical responses. For example, ChatGPT repeats the same sentence structure, changing only a few words.
  • Obvious Attempts at Closing Conversations. AI merely addresses input. It tries to end conversations swiftly and efficiently by accomplishing requests in one or two turns.

Instructional Services | #Think35

4875 222 Street, Langley
BC, V3A 3Z7
Phone: 6045347891
© 2015 Langley School District